


Why Korra Plays Mario Kart

by prrincessyue



Series: In Our World [2]
Category: Avatar: The Legend of Korra
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Mario Kart, Modern Setting, asami's rly good at mario kart and korra is not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-06-27 01:00:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15674850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prrincessyue/pseuds/prrincessyue
Summary: Korra realizes why she always finds herself playing Mario Kart with Asami, and it certainly isn't because she's any good at it.





	Why Korra Plays Mario Kart

"Wanna play Mario Kart?"

Korra's raven-haired girlfriend peered up at her from where she sat on the floor. She had just painted her own nails white, leaning over crossed legs with her hand splayed flat on a magazine on the floor, the whole thing of which Korra had found quite cute. They were having a chill morning, so Korra was on the couch reading Harry Potter and peaking at Asami whenever she got bored, shooting her smiles and winks. Now she set the book down and regarded her, cocking her head with a small smile. 

Korra was not as good at Mario Kart as she would have liked.

She thought she was the kind of person who was supposed to be good at it - she was, wasn't she? She was fun, she was confident, she was competitive, and she got far too invested in these kinds of things. But she just... wasn't very good at it. She drifted too early and turned too sharply and used items at bad times. She wasn't awful, per say. She could sometimes crack top three, but she was definitely inconsistent, and she ended up in the bottem three just as often - possibly even more. Usually, though, she floated around in the middle, spending races getting bumped from fifth to sixth to seventh, then back to fifth and maybe even fourth (or some variation of that), every lap. 

Now, her dear girlfriend Asami, on the other hand, had no trouble with drifting or turning or items. In fact, for all her effortless grace and intellect and own confidence and competitivness, she was great at it. Korra had thought maybe she'd be too used to racing a real car to pick up the virtual controls, but that was a strong miscalculation on her part; she could wipe the floor with Korra on any stage, in any kart, with any character. And not just because Korra sucked, but because, well... Asami was just good at Mario Kart.  Korra wondered if she enjoyed the actual game, or just the part where she kicked Korra's ass in it so impeccably. Korra also wondered why she herself even agreed to play, since it always ended with Asami's cheers and Korra's sulking, both on and off screen. 

But now Asami was cocking her head back at her, and there was this hopeful smile on her lips and a messy bun in her hair, which a few loose curls slipped out of, and Korra couldn't help but say yes.  She pushed herself off the couch and grabbed a controller, resigning herself to four races of humiliating defeat as she watched Asami do the same. They leaned into eachother on the couch, Korra's arm slung over Asami's shoulders, while she got the game going.

"Alright," Korra said when Asami was done setting it up. "What cup?" 

Asami rested her head on Korra's shoulder. "You can choose," she innocently glanced up at her through thick lashes. 

Korra hovered over the Shell Cup - the only one she had a fighting chance at - and looked at Asami for approval. She sat up and nodded, a gleam already in her eyes that both made Korra smile and dread the next ten minutes of her life. 

The two girls sped through character and kart selection, both having found their perfect combinations - though Korra now considered whether her Yoshi in the Legend of Zelda kart was at all detrimental to her success. Asami played as Metal Peach on a standard bike, because she could do that.

The characters were swept to the first track, and Asami glanced at Korra. "Are you ready, babe?"

 _BOOP!_ The screen was displaying a three.

Korra sighed.

_BOOP!_

Both girls leaned forward, rested their elbows on their knees as they gripped their controllers, and pressed down on the gas button.

_BOOP!_

"Ready as i'll ever be, I -"

_Beeep!_

"-guess."

And they were off.

Korra had gotten the boost in the beginning - this was good. It wasn't the biggest boost she could've gotten, but the same went for Asami. She was in second place behind her. As she enjoyed the few blissful moments in the front that she always got, she also came to the same resolve as she always did. That this time, she'd actually do well. Beating Asami was the dream, but even just coming in second would suffice. All she had to do was focus, she could do it if she put her mind to it.

That did not go well.

It went especially bad, actually. She bumped into just about every wall. Fell of the stage once each lap. She got a blue shell and Asami managed to block it with a red one. At one point, she was actually begging for a bullet bull to give her mercy. And then she got one and the race was over without her even passing the finish line. Needless to say, she came in twelfth. Which was also, incidentally, known as dead last.

Korra stared at the screen, a little bit devastated, a lot disappointed, and not even that surprised. She felt Asami lean back on the couch beside her, satisfied at her win.

"I think I may have lapped you," Asami wasn't usually one to gloat, but when she did, it was because she had all the reason in the world to do so.

Korra scowled, "I'm just not good at that stage!" She cried, knowing full-well that that wasn't to blame.

Asami giggled at a pouting Korra and clicked onto the next race; she was the kind of girl who had the decency to not shove the highlights reel in Korra's face. 

The countdown for the next race started, and Korra didn't quite have the will to tell herself that this would be her race but she did anyway, biting her lip. This prompted Asami to peck her on the cheek just a moment before pressing on the gas, which distracted Korra a little, enough that this time she _didn't_ get the boost in the beginning. 

So, she was off to a bad start. But also a good start because Asami's lips were nice and soft. 

But even with the set back, this race actually went pretty well for Korra. Slow but sure. She steered carefully, and stayed solid in fifth the whole time. And she was happy in fifth, she was, but then at the very end she got really close to the kart infront her, which was harbouring a smug Daisy, and with the finish line on the horizon Korra decided that she would do _anything_ to surpass Daisy. 

She felt Asami watching her, since she'd finished long ago, and drifted at just the right moment, executing a turn perfectly. The boost was a strong one, far enough that she thought she was gonna make it, but it just shot her an infuriating inch behind Daisy. She cursed and shoved the joy-con forward, as if that would help.

"Go Korra!" Asami cheered.

Daisy and Korra hit item boxes one after another, and Korra prayed for a mushroom as the box merrily spun above Yoshi's head. 

Before she could even get her item, Korra slipped on the banana that Daisy had ended up with. 

_"Fuck!"_

It was over. 

"It's okay, baby, look!" Asami cried. 

Or apparently it wasn't? 

"You've got a red shell!" Asami prodded.

Korra looked at the corner of her screen, perking up when she saw her item. Even _better_  than a mushroom. 

"Thankyou, Asami!" She cried as she shot it at Daisy.

The shell hit her so satisfyingly and left her spun out on the side of the road as Korra whizzed past. 

 _"Yes!"_ She whooped _._

She turned to Asami and they engaged in an excited high-five.

When they turned back to the screen, which was now displaying the scoreboard, Korra chuckled. "All that for fourth."

"Totally worth it!" Asami assured her. "Good job!" 

"Good job _me_? Good job _you_! I am quite possibly dating the best Mario Kart player in the world."

"Well i'm _definitely_  dating the best girlfriend in the world." 

If Korra did awful in the next race, her excuse would be that Asami had melted her heart. 

It turned out Korra would need that excuse, because she _did_  do awfulin the next race. Somehow even worse than she did in the first one. She missed the boost and  _then_ fell off the stage immeditaley. Not a single item was thrown at her because she was in more than dead last the entire time, but she still slipped on every banana peel and bumped into every shell left on the track. It was no secret, this time, that Asami had lapped her, possibly twice. She was just _so_ _far_ behind everyone.

It really wasn't her day. 

Asami, on the other hand, had a particularly _good_ race. Which seemed impossible because she always did so well, but this time she managed to dodge and block the abundance of items that were thrown at her, and she easily sailed feet ahead of any other living soul, to the point where the screen was blurry. She drifted to the full speed on every turn and went over every ramp, always hitting the boost button at the perfect time. And she did all that for _fun_ , she didn't even need to by the second lap and she would _still_ win. 

It had Korra forgetting all about her somewhat victorious race. Because it was official, she _really_ didn't know why she played this game. All she could do when she fell off the stage for the millionth time was roll her eyes and toss the controller out of her hands. She was so far behind, she may aswell just let the course do it's worst until the end of the race. 

" _Sami-_ " She started to complain, drawing her eyes to her girlfriend. But she stopped when she saw the look on her face.

She bit her lip as she artfully expelled a blue shell with that weird air horn, and her focused green eyes followed the shell on the screen for a moment before returning to her kart. Then, in the moment that she passed the finish line, she wore an expression of peer delight; Her smile was wide enough to show a pearly white set of teeth, and her eyebrows drew a soft, slight line upwards. She was leaning over her legs, and wisps of hair framed her face.

" _Yes!_ " She cried, lurching forward and grinning even harder. 

And that was when Korra realized why she played Mario Kart. 

"Congratulations, babe," She drew Asami into her arms, "That was amazing! You should be proud." 

The girls looked into eachothers' eyes, sharing happy smiles, and kissed eachother. Once they broke away, Korra just had one question for Asami. 

"Ready for the next race?"

**Author's Note:**

> Thankyou for reading!


End file.
